July 2016 #3

[primarynoodle]

Hello all! Can't believe we're on thread 3! Let's kickstart with a then and now photo :)

Here's Annie at 4 months 4 days

Becks - well done with the room move! Makes me excited for ours. And I'm so glad you're getting your evenings back. Ru going down at 7pm is what is keeping me sane - even though I generally find I am incapable of doing much with my 'free' evening other than eating ice cream and watching that mental spy animals prog where there is pretty much zero footage from the actual spy animal... 😂(In love with spy squirrel, who looked like he'd had a terrifying encounter with a second-rate taxidermist.)
Your food sounds yummy. We've been doing similar, blitzing stuff till it has just a bit of texture, then I've been freezing leftover portions in an ice cube tray (heart shaped ice cubes... Unbelievably twee). They only take about 40 secs to defrost in the microwave so I've found it really easy.
It's amazing (or perhaps not) how many of us have had a rocky time with partners after a first baby. Is it easier after a second, do you think? I'm a bit put off at the moment!

sunday thank you, what a nice compliment! Also howled at 'mummy's just going to check her emails'. I can't believe how quickly I have slipped into referring to myself as 'mummy' and I kind of hate myself for it but I can't stop doing it - it's like a disease!

primary I'm sorry things have been so rough for you, but glad they are improving. I'm also glad you're standing up for yourself - that must take a lot of courage and determination, so good for you.
Glad you've enjoyed your KIT days thus far. I've had a nice time visiting school when I've gone in - but as I'm no longer employed by them it's been extra nice, haha! I still don't think some of the staff know I've been made redundant. It's very odd.

Anna ugh, what bad luck! Hope you feel better soon and that the hideous thrush is banished for good. I didn't realise you'd had such a tough time with your DH. Thank you for being so candid - and thank you for the fabulous advice from your friend, which I shall squirrel (spyyyy squirrel!) away for dispensing to others in a time of need. It's true - having a baby is a ridiculously big change. It's a total shift in lifestyle and focus and energy levels... Of course it is bound to take some getting used to! I feel like relationship counselling should be mandatory for new parents...
Hugs to you too about your mum. It must be so hard when it's still all so fresh. Xx

Indians I just can't get over how cute Hallie is with all that hair. Love the pics!

Cheery you are very understanding about your MIL - I think I would be a bit less generous!!! That said, we've not had an awful lot of help either... But maybe I've not asked for it clearly enough? I would have loved someone to help me with the cleaning in the first four or five months. I know my mum would have done stuff without needing to be asked!
Poor little Mo. I hope your bad luck has run out now! Love his bib by the way.

Think things are a bit better my end. Last week was crisis point it seems so hopefully we are on the up from here. I'm knackered though - wrung out emotionally, plus Ru seems to be endlessly teething and is unusually grumpy!

However! Swings are ace. (Guess who was in the swing next door?!)

Beautiful swing pictures! Dont know how to post photos from my phone but will add some later.......... annie isnt 'moving' but can stand up against the sofa on her own now (as in will stay stood when put there - she cant pull herself up) im very impressed with your active babies! bluebell hows things? As an aside, hows things going with the book? Ive started reading again as i can pop annie in the sling and by the end of a chapter shes asleep, i forgot how much i love love love reading! What are you going to do about returning to work? Im no longer employed by my school so my kit days are a bit of informal supply with them, ive got back in touch with the supply agency i used to be with but its making me feel simultaneously sick about going back to work and terrified that ive not got a job julf were you job hunting too or have i misremembered? sunday arf at parsnip porridge 😂 i nearly gave annie garlic butter instead of porridge the other day as for some unkown reason dp has frozen garlic butter in ice cube trays then put it next to her ice cubes of porridge - words fail me! Was a good job id already had my morning coffee and wasnt too blurry eyed! indians hallie is so cute, serious hair envy! becks what a cheeky grin! I feel like it would be easier to think of meals for dd if i had another preschooler, shes mainly on random sticks of veg and toast cause we eat at different times gah! cheery and anna you are both so strong, grieving and the stress of a newborn must be really intense. It would be my angel dd's first birthday tomorrow, obviously if shed survived then i wouldnt have annie but im still really sad. Dont really know how to deal with the emotions of that at the moment!

Haha blue no pulling the wool over my eyes! As soon as I saw your swing pic I was gonna ask if you knew you'd been to the same park! Little did I know you two had had a cheeky meet up! He looks so happy on that swing!

Primary I think we might have been on a MC/pregnancy loss thread at the same time if I recall, as the one I lost would have turned 1 last month. I can't say I feel genuine grief about it anymore, time has dulled that particular sadness. But I had a friend who was due at the same time and went on to have a healthy girl, she put something on fb to celebrate her first birthday and I did feel a very real stab of pain when I saw that. Nothing wrong with feeling sad about it tomorrow.

Primary I've been using a lot of jars/pouches for Ben as quite often we all eat different things. I'm going slimming world so he's getting lots of different veg as finger food too!!

Really really need to sort the freezer out, DH has had a swede/mango mix up now!

Crikey Indians, a house move too? Brave lady!
Gorgeous photos 😊

Becks - your cauliflower-etc-cheese dish sounds delish.
"In the men's" 😂

Becks and Cheery - gorgeous photos! I love the grins.

Cheery, enjoy the co-sleeping 😊
Why are your SIL and the baby in Paris worthy of more attention than your family? Genuine question.

Primary - glad you're getting to enjoy some reading time. Funny, it's just in the last couple of weeks that I really feel I'm as mentally switched on as I used to be. Not that I think my brain went mushy, but just that my mind was totally focused on parenting and there wasn't much spare capacity to think about other things. But in the last couple of weeks I've been updating my CV and thinking about next jobs (yes I need to apply for something new) and I've actually really enjoyed being back in that zone.
Garlic butter in an ice cube tray? 🤔
Thinking of you especially tomorrow and sending hugs xoxo

Sunday - hugs to you too, even though time has healed.
I thought we were going to have a long guessing game with the Swing Riddle! No flies on you, eh?! Ever thought about a career as a detective?!
Ha, parsnip porridge! Hilarious! Mind you, it's no weirder than some of the combinations you see in the pouches.

Bluebs - OMG I saw the spyyyy squirrel programme, but I tuned in randomly halfway through and didn't know what the programme was. I couldn't work out why the squirrel looked so freaky - it took me ages to realise it wasn't real! (I think I may have been sleep deprived 😂.) LOL re "a terrifying encounter with a second-rate taxidermist". I really can't wait to read your novel 😀
Aww, I wish I had someone to make me heart-shaped food ❤️ 🍴
Sorry to hear that little Ru is feeling grumpy, poor little thing. But glad that things are getting better at home. Hope you manage to get some rest.

Big hugs to everyone who's missing their mums or other family members xoxo

A couple of questions, if I may:

For those who are puréeing, how do you get the damn goo in their mouths? Do you let them hold the spoon or do you shovel it in yourself? J always wants to hold the spoon (and basically just wave it around) and it's impossible to wrestle it off him, so I've started having two spoons so that the chances of success are doubled. But I'm still not convinced that very much actually finds its way into his mouth. Does anyone have any good tips?
I've also been doing finger food, but the success rate is even lower there (it goes in his mouth, but very little stays in there). I know it's just meant to be for fun/exploration at this stage, but I'd like some of it to go in!

And what do you do if you're out and about at lunchtime? Do you give solids rather than purées? Or do you just give purées and to hell with the mess? Or do you just always come home for all meals?

The last couple of days I've given J porridge for breakfast, and he seemed to enjoy it. I just used my normal porridge - it doesn't have any salt/sugar in it, and he seems fine with the lumpiness. I mashed banana into it yesterday, and blueberry mush/juice (no skins) today. Avocado has also been a success (not in porridge, although...)

Has anyone noticed that their baby suffers more from trapped wind and loud farts again nowadays? I'm not sure if it's because of the food or because I'm introducing formula...?

I think I've inadvertently taught J to grin every time he farts. I say "'Scuse you!", he grins, I chuckle, and it's a real bonding moment 😂

I'm doing newborn-visiting this week. Went to see a friend and her seven-week old today, and tomorrow until Friday I'm visiting another friend and her five-week old. It's rather lovely 😊 but I can't even begin to tell you how much I prefer having a 7mo than a 7wo...

Julf the 2 spoon method definitely helps or you have the spoon they have some finger food, sometimes I distract Ben with a toy and when I'm home (not in public) I do the 'choo-choo train or aeroplane! I take food out with me either jars/pouches but we only really go to places that don't mind a bit of mess. Lots of places now sell and will heat up baby food or your own food for you. I use spoons with quite a deep scoop to maximise what's going in. At the moment Ben's favourite thing is to blow raspberries whilst eating!! It drives me mad!!!!

Becks I find that the spoons are too deep and the goo just stays in the dip rather than coming off into his mouth. Do you tip the spoon over when it's in his mouth? Or maybe my food's consistency isn't runny enough?

Julf I kind of get it in his mouth then hold it vertically so it slips in to his mouth. If the food is really thick then I turn the spoon over and sort of wipe it on his tongue.

Extra garlicky bolognaise was a real hit with Ben tonight, it's a bit odd having a baby with garlic breath though!

Evening everyone, loving all the photos!

Just caught up on all the posts I have missed. The babies are all looking so big!

Weaning is going well here we are now onto three meals a day, breakfast is becoming a firm favourite here, we had weetabix this morning which niamh was delighted about as it is her fave! I also have some of the Ella's kitchen porridge that was on offer in asda which seems to be a hit! I have been making breakfast using blue whole cows milk and letting Raffy finish drinking any leftover heated up milk in his Tommy tipee and he loves it. It has given me renewed confidence that I am going to breastfeed until I go back to work in May and then when he is about 10 months switch any day time milk he is still needing to cows milk with him being weaned fully onto cows milk by a year. I still don't understand why you can cook and make food with whole milk but they can't drink it?
Talking of breast milk I dont think we have dropped any feeds but hard to know if he is still eating as often just possibly less. Other foods are pouches of purée, yoghurt (raspberry and natural you mixed) worth it for the hilarious face and puréed/chopped up versions of our dinner. He had pasta and Tom sauce with goats cheese tonight and loved it.

Spoon wise he loves to be fed as he is lazy but he is becoming more insistent at having a go, we do a mixture of mummy and Raffy turn and me making him smile/ laugh and quickly shoving food in ;)

If we are eating when we are out I take a purée pouch, giant bib and wet wipes in a lunch bag luckily it hasn't been too messy so far...

Blue we had a horrible choking biscuit incident, which has put me off whole finger foods. Because of his teeth (top and bottom now) I am not sure he fully understands that they break up his food and he bit nearly half the biscuit off. So we are mostly on lumpy food.

We are doing the bed move tomorrow as DH has some holiday until next weds so going to see how it goes but those of you on FB would have seen my nap melt down post earlier this week so I am not holding out much hope. One of my friends lives opposite so I may run away to her house when DH tries ha ha

I have gone back to playing roller derby though which has been amazing in lots of ways and lovely to feel like myself again and I completely know what you mean about feeling more capable brain wise julfin I have been thinking about work far more pragmatically and doing some mental business planning for for next year and developments for growth so maybe going back will be ok.

We confirmed our childminders this week, and I am feeling way more relaxed after spending time with her and some of the children. I would highly recommend going a few times if you are looking. She is so patient and I think will be amazing for Raffy and she was also so pleased when I said we wanted her to have him. Made me feel much better!

Huge hugs for all those of you missing family members and blue I truly think it is easier in many ways on your relationship second time around still an adjustment but less of the life changing shock!

Are we having a birthday meet up in July? I am filling up our summer with festivals and van trips I can't wait for spring. Our Europe trip is nearly fully organised, just sending off for passports seems so silly that Raffy will have his baby picture until he is at school! Niamhs is nearly ran out and her picture is so funny now, they both managed serious passport face very well although Raff was a fluke ha. I have s memory of someone doing a trip to America was that you julfin and how is your Europe trip planning going blue?

Primary full props to you, it is so important to set out boundaries I think, it's one of the strangest things when you have kids telling your parents off. My mil apparently was trying to feed Raffy something from their plates the other day and got told off by DH.
It's frustrating when a rational explanation is still not enough sometimes!

Hope everyone is not suffering with too many germs, they still seem prolific here it's annoying!

Rolly I don't think cow's milk as bad for them; you're just not supposed to give it to them as a drink because it doesn't have the nutrients that they need pre-12m, whereas breastmilk/formula do, so that's what they need. There's absolutely no harm in them having it e.g. in porridge etc. We normally drink semi-skimmed and that's what I've been using in the porridge that J eats (because it's my porridge!). I suppose full-fat milk would be better, but given that some people make porridge with water, I don't see any harm in using semi-skimmed.
Yes, it's me going to North America, in mid-June to mid-July. Therefore I'd suggest a birthday party in the second half of July! But will lots of people be back at work by then?
Glad you've got your childminder sorted and that your pleased with her. It's so important. I'm planning on a nanny-share (more affordable than nursery round here!) but am not fixing anything up until I know when I'm returning to work, which is likely to be July-ish but it could be sooner if I get an appealing job lined up sooner.
Good luck with the bed move!
I just googled roller derby and it looks awesome!

Really interesting programme on post-natal anxiety on Radio 4 right now.

Peri-natal

At risk of seeming as if I'm talking to myself(!), I thought I'd share these photos. First one is this morning's porridge which DH fed to J. As ever, not a huge amount went down the hatch, but they spent ages at it and seemed to be having lots of fun with aeroplanes and choo-choo trains! A fun, bonding experience which was nice to watch. This evening we're having steamed carrots (plus beef bourguignon for the grown-ups - have I mentioned that DH is an amazing chef?)

Hope you've all had a lovely weekend. I've done lots of filing / throwing away, and can practically feel my halo glistening 😇

Julf-too cute!!

Thanks Becks!

Had a bit more success getting puréed avocado into J today. It disappeared and (even better!) didn't reappear again. I think it's just practice - we took a few weeks off after Christmas when he had his rash (which hadn't yet been identified as eczema). So he's still quite new to the whole food concept. Like you Bluebs I've decided to give up on the solid solids. We had too many chokings and sickings, and I just don't think he's ready yet. I mean, he loves chewing on stuff (and it's a good distraction technique while we're eating too), but he just can't chew it enough to swallow it safely.

Little darling's rash seems to have died down a bit today, Sod's law just in time to see the paediatrician

Granny (my mum) was here today so I had another cathartic day of clearing out my cupboards - crazy kid

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! Hope you all manage to spend some nice quiet time with your loved ones xx

Happy Valentine's Day.

So tired, the last 2 nights Ben has woken every 20 mins or so from about 11pm onwards. He screams and won't settle. I slept in his room last night hoping it might help but it was no better. I think it's teething as I can see the top 2 although he's not dribbly or red cheeked. He's also got a bit of a cold. I've alternated nurofen/paracetamol but not sure if it's making a difference. I was going to start some form of sleep training but dont want to if it's genuinely pain.

Oh poor Ben! And you too - it must be exhausting
Yes I agree, I don't personally think it's very nice to start sleep training when they're in pain. When they're hurting they need cuddles and comfort.
I hope the pain dies down soon, both for his sake and so you can start the training xx
J woke up at 4am and wouldn't stop wriggling/squealing, so eventually we both got up and hung out until 7. Since then he's had two naps of three hours each, jammy little thing! I'm so so looking forward to my bed tonight 😴

Has the thread died? 😟

Anna, Ruby, (anyone else?) - you'll have to join Facebook now I'm afraid. We wouldn't want to lose touch xx

I don't know if any of you remember me- my user name used to be Loki. I was on the due in July thread with you all before I sadly lost my baby at 13 weeks. Anyway, I'd like to introduce you to my rainbow baby. Her name is Willow and she is 4 weeks old today.

whatser I lurked on the July antenatal thread and joined the postnatal one once my own 'rainbow' arrived but I remember you by your old username. Congratulations, Willow is lovely! I hope you are well after her arrival too x

Sorry for the radio silence! All a bit stressful at the moment. Still negotiating working patterns with my boss, it's all very vague at the moment and I'm trying not to inadvertently agree to anything without knowing exactly what I'm agreeing to- I have form for this! DH is self employed but has no work on at the moment and nothing in the pipeline so he's getting stressed too. I've had a nursery place offered that I was on the waiting list for and they want me to confirm days I need and a start date so I'm trying to delay them without losing the place. Argh!

Julf regarding spoon feeding, I find that E just wants to chew it if I give him a spoon to hold which makes it impossible to get anything else in. He is happy if I keep his sippy cup within reach, I think it gives him some control and he can dictate when he wants a break from me spoon feeding by taking a sip of water. Otherwise I just get as much as I can in before he tries to grab the spoon!

I give him a pouch of stuff if we are out for lunch but I find it a bit nerve wrecking because he either gets distracted and won't eat or we mistime the meal so he gets too hungry and won't eat solids so usually end up giving a milk feed anyway.

Can recommend munchkin spoons- they are nice and shallow, quite firm so I sort of wiped the spoon against his top lip to start with. Now he's got better at opening his mouth for the spoon and taking the food off himself.

We're away staying with friends and I'm really pleased that he's been feeding and napping well while we're away from home despite having a cold and teething. No sign of a tooth yet though

Hope everyone else is ok x

Hi whatser, congratulations on the arrival of Willow, what a cutie.

Hi Whatser, yes I remember the name Loki. I was Julfin. Many congratulations! She's gorgeous! Is she your first? How have you found the first 4 weeks? I found them astonishingly tough - but don't worry, it does get easier. Very happy for you x

Sunday - thanks for the tip re munchkin spoon - sounds good. I've actually just bought a munchkin sippy cup which he hasn't got the hang of yet (he can't get the water out!) but when he does it'll be brilliant. With his old one he was just pouring water everywhere...
Sorry you're having nause re your working arrangements. Yes definitely tread cautiously and don't let yourself get talked into something you don't want.

I was also thinking everyone had run off.
Congratulations on the birth of willow Loki. Think there are a lot of rainbow babies on this thread.
Life stressful here too but we have achieved a lot in the last month. Weaning is going well and managing at least 2 puree meals a day. Mummy's lentil dinner going down well tonight. Unfortunately sleep is not as good. From being great we are now waking regularly and not settling afterwards. The last few nights have been better so fingers crossed we have turned a corner.
We went away to a hotel last weekend to celebrate mum's birthday and it was horrendous : baby not sleeping and screaming, daughter awake due to her brother, sitting in reception in the early hours as easier and then mum (has alzheimers) being hard work in the day, and everyone else tired and grumpy. Omg it will take a while to recover.
Planning my return to work too. Aaarrrgghhhhh not sure how it's going to work.
Anyway D gorgeous and cuddly and need to treasure him and try not to stress over him, daughter and my mum ( harder work and as time consuming as my baby). Xx